House District 16 Special Election Candidates Report Raising Over $45,000 In July

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Wednesday marked the first deadline for candidates in the special election for House District 16 to file monthly campaign finance reports with the Alabama Secretary of State's office.

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As Patch previously reported, six Republicans and one Democrat qualified to appear on the special election ballot to fill the House District 16 seat vacated by former Republican state Rep. Kyle South of Fayette, who stepped down to become the president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

The district covers parts of Fayette, Jefferson and Tuscaloosa counties.

Party primaries are set for Sept. 26. If necessary, a primary runoff will be held on Oct. 24, with the General Election scheduled for Jan. 9, 2024.

As of the reporting deadline on Wednesday, a total of $45,702.26 was raised in July by the three Republican campaigns who met the threshold requiring them to filing campaign finance reports: Bryan Brinyark, Brad Cox and Greg Fanin.

Thus far, $16,084.25 has been documented as being spent on the race.

According to the Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA), candidates who have not reached the disclosure threshold of $1,000 are exempt from filing monthly, weekly and daily campaign finance reports with the Alabama Secretary of State.

BREAKDOWN

Leading the way on fundraising for the District 16 special election is Fayette County Commissioner and Alabama One Credit Union business development officer Brad Cox, who closed the month of July with an ending balance of $17,373.08 after raising $21,819 during the reporting period.

Cox also topped his competitors in July for money received from Political Action Committees (PACs), including: $2,500 from Montgomery-based ED PAC; $2,500 from FARM PAC/Alabama Farmers Federation; $5,000 from the Alabama Alabama Credit Union Legislative Action Council and $5,000 from Montgomery-based Alabama Voice of Teachers for Education.

Cox spent a total of $4,445.92 in July.

Northport attorney Bryan Brinyark was the first candidate to announce his intentions to run and trailed only Cox in his ending balance for July.

Brinyark reported $5,750 in cash contributions for the month, in addition to personal contributions in the total amount of $6,078.26 to his own campaign coffers.

His only donation from a Political Action Committee during this reporting period came from CASH PAC, chaired by Tuscaloosa accountant Mike Echols, in the amount of $2,250.

In total, Brinyark spent $1,251.18 during the first official month of the special election campaign and ended the month with $10,574.08 in cash on hand.

Republican Greg Fanin, a resident of Berry, reported the second-highest fundraising total for July, with $12,055 in contributions. This was made possible due to Fanin contributing $10,000 to his own war chest during the first month of the campaign.

Fanin also reported receiving money from one Political Action Committee — Montgomery-based ENPAC in the amount of $500. His end balance at the close of the month was reported to be $1,670.85.

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